Deb Matthews’ appointment Tuesday to a new cabinet post as treasury board president — her job, to keep deficit-plagued Ontario’s spending in check — now makes the London area’s lone Liberal MPP a lightning rod for every one of Ontario’s 1.1 million public servants.

Many would be among the same voters who put the Liberals back in office in the recent election, fearful the Progressive Conservatives — as leader Tim Hudak vowed — would slash 100,000 public jobs.

Matthews, deputy premier and ally of Premier Kathleen Wynne, goes from the frying pan into the fire of a new and arguably more contentious post. With Ontario running a $12.5-billion budget shortfall, red ink the government doesn’t expect to whip until the end of 2018, pressure to keep a lid on spending will be huge.

Add to that Ontario’s rising debt of more than $270 billion — roughly equivalent to two and a half years of provincial revenue, the highest ratio of any province — and the fiscal challenges only mount.

“She’s basically the minister of saying ‘No,’ of saying ‘we can’t afford that,’ “ said Mike Moffatt, an econoist at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.

“It may be the most important portfolio there is, but it may also be the most difficult,” he said.

Wynne has already promised public-sector wage freezes in a reintroduced budget — the same one that one triggered the election — to be brought down next week.

It’s part of her party’s aim to balance Ontario’s books by the end of 2018.

Matthews’ new job is split from Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s, which is largely in charge of spending.

The treasury board president, by contrast, is the cheque-checker more than the cheque-writer.

Matthews will be head of the Big-Stick ministry — the one who wrangles the deficit and contains the debt.

In an interview, Matthews characterized it instead as a firm-but-fair approach, not just to civil servants but to agencies that rely on provincial dollars.

“It’s not, for me, just about saying no. It’s about saying, how can we do this in a way that gives better value and better service to people?” she said.

It will inevitably also be about going toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball in contract talks with unions that were among the Liberals’ core supporters in the election.

That may sound a like a repeat of 1990, when organized labour was key to an unexpected NDP victory for Bob Rae only to turn sour when tough austerity measures, including forced days off without pay, were slapped on those very same unions.

But the difference this time, said Moffatt, is the broad strokes of cost containment have already been announced. “The unions have to come in this with eyes wide open . . . There shouldn’t be a lot of surprises here,” he said.

Teachers’ contracts expire this year, as do scores of other public service contracts. Wage freezes have already been promised for some of them.

Matthews, a prominent former backroom Liberal and 11-year MPP, was also named Tuesday as the minister in charge of Ontario’s poverty-reduction strategy.

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WE ASKED MATTHEWS:

Q: How would you describe the task of erasing a $12.5 billion deficit in four years?

It is daunting, no doubt about it, but it has to be done and it has to be done by applying our Liberal values. We know we need to get to balance – that is not negotiable – and we must to it in a way that protects services.

Q: What’s the first message you’d like to give civil servants? ‘Brace yourself?’

There won’t be any big surprises because our budget made it very clear that there’s no new money for wage increases, so we have to figure this out . . . It’s in black and white in our budget.

Q: Yet OPSEU (the civil-service union) has already said its’s bracing for a good fight . . .

A: The reality is we have to get to our shared goal, which is making sure we can continue to provide services. And if we don’t balance, we’re not going to be able to continue to provide services. It’s as simple as that.

Q: Your single biggest achievement as health minister?

We’ve doubled the number of people who are getting care in their own homes. That’s a remarkable accomplishment . . . if something is better value for money and improves the quality of care people get, then we have to figure out a way to do it.

Q: Regrets about that ministry — Ornge and eHealth and similar issues?

They’re doing excellent work at eHealth now and I’m very proud of that work. (With Ornge) there wasn’t the oversight that there ought to have been. We didn’t catch the problem soon enough. They are now on a very strong footing again . . .

DEB MATTHEWS

London-born, raised

Age: 60

Ph.D. in social demography from Western University

Former construction manager

11-year London North Centre MPP

Multiple cabinet jobs since 2003, including five years as health minister

Headed Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal leadership campaign

Former Ontario Liberal president and prominent backroom player

REACTION:

“I think we’re going to have lots of scuffles with the government. We know the freight train is coming and it’s loaded full of BS. But we’ll be ready for it.”

— Smokey Thomas, president, Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union

“Under Deb Matthews, Ontario’s health care system saw massive privatization of hospital services through private contracts worth billions. At the same time, residents in smaller communities saw their local health care services downsized and moved out of town and into private clinics in urban areas,”

— France Gelinas, NDP health critic

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ONTARIO’S NEW CABINET

Sworn into office Tuesday at Queen’s Park

Kathleen Wynne: Premier, intergovernmental affairs

Deb Matthews: President of the Treasury Board, deputy premier, minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy,